Angst

The angst in this piece is more or less a reflection of my mood at the time. When your art starts becoming popular, your clientele inevitably increases. Each piece that an artist makes takes a little bit of his soul. A little bit of his sleep, his vision, his time and mind. It ends up becoming a little tiring after a certain point. That frustration I believe also had something to do with the angst. Getting it out there in a way was incredibly therapeutic for me. It wasn’t exactly a good ol’ case of decking a pillow or two but definitely some version of it.

The most rewarding thing about the piece is that it helped me sort of vent out about the situation I found myself in. As opposed to the trilogy that I made earlier (The Mermaid, Medusa and Fallen Angel), this one doesn’t quite have a concrete background. It delighted me to find that it was perfect just the way it came out, without a background.

In terms of the inspiration, I think it is fairly evident that the piece is based on Munch’s ‘The Scream.’ Being inspired by something and plagiarizing it are two things that are separated by a thin line, really. When I first started painting, I was very concerned about becoming a fraud. I felt like I was blatantly copying Pollock and Riley and everyone else. These men and women combined have pushed the boundaries so much that it’s really hard to find something that hasn’t been tried before. It’s hard to not feel like an imposter, really. What my piece shares with The Scream is the sort of carefully planned contortion of the face and the idea of people ripping pieces off of other people.

I chose not to include any ‘human’ women in this piece simply because I did not want to be distracted and spend too much time on the curves and the breasts and the bottom. When I start drawing women, the 13 year old in my head really seeks to take control. I wanted to make this piece a study of raw emotion and angst. I wanted to spend some time on the hands too. I’m really not that good at drawing hands. The ‘free-hand’ nature of the piece certainly made it a challenge for me and I’m incredibly delighted with the result. I believe it aptly captures the emotions I wanted it to capture.